Shanghai shares closed at their highest in almost 20 months Thursday, although performance in the rest of region was lackluster with the U.S. Federal Reserve on track to end its monthly bond-buying program.
In Tokyo, the Nikkei 225 gained another 104.29 points, or 0.7%, to 15,658.20, with a stronger U.S. dollar helping Japanese exporters, as their revenues are mostly earned abroad in dollars while their costs are yen-denominated. The dollar was at ¥109.3 from ¥108.90 late Wednesday in New York.
Still, the U.S. central bank’s announcement that it was ending a monthly bond-buying program as expected pressured the region’s markets.
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng index cooled off 117.83 points, or 0.5%, to 23,702.04.
In Hong Kong, China National Offshore Oil Corp. shares were down 4.5% after the firm said its third-quarter revenue from oil and gas output fell 4.6% from a year earlier, dragged by lower oil prices.
China Citic Bank was off 0.4% after the bank said it plans to raise up to $2 billion U.S. in a private sale of domestic shares to replenish its core capital. The share sales comes after the midsize lender reported its third-quarter net profit declined 2% from a year earlier, hit by a rise in bad loans.
In South Korea, shares of Samsung Electronics 005930, +4.51% the world’s largest smartphone maker, were up 4.5% even though its third-quarter profit fell sharply as its mobile business continued to lose ground to low-cost Chinese rivals.
Investors have recently been selling the stock, which is down 14% year to date. Samsung said its operating profit slid 60% from a year earlier to 4.06 trillion won, in line with market expectations.
Korea Exchange Chairman Choi Kyoung-soo said recently that he has urged some of South Korea’s biggest companies to increase their dividends, with the exchange unveiling four new dividend funds earlier this week. Samsung, which has $60 billion U.S. in cash, has a dividend yield of just 1.2%, lower than that of global peers.
CHINA
Shanghai’s CSI 300 index gained 17.54 points, or 0.7%, to 2,468.93, boosted by gains in China Railway Group, which hit its 10% daily upside limit, China National Chemical Engineering which surged 8.0% to CNY6.64 and China Railway Construction Corp. which added 7.7% to CNY6.68.
Late Wednesday, Xinhua News Agency reported that Beijing had given the green light to 64 railway projects and that it was targeting 800 billion yuan ($131 billion U.S.) worth of investment into the railway sector this year.
The market also climbed after news that the Shanghai Stock Exchange will conduct a test on a planned stock-trading connection with the Hong Kong market on Nov. 1, rekindling hopes that the trading program would launch soon following a delay.
In other markets;
Singapore’s Straits Times Index picked up 10.28 points, or 0.3%, to 3,234.31
The Taiex index in Taiwan dipped 15.61 points, or 0.2%, to 8,888.07
Korea’s Kospi index fell 2.24 points, or 0.1%, to 1,958.93
New Zealand’s Exchange 50 grew 14.31 points, or 0.3%, to 5,370.18
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 regained 28.52 points, or 0.5%, to 5,476.20
